1 From: Matthew Chircop <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2023 7:58 AM
To: Web-City Clerk
Cc: Gloria Soto; Maribel Hernandez; Alice Patino; Carlos Escobedo; Mike Cordero Subject: une 20, 2023 City Council Meeting - Public Comment Item 8a *** EXTERNAL EMAIL: Please use caution when opening links or attachments.*** Santa Maria City Council Members,
I write to you to share the Santa Maria City Firefighters' position on the Amendments to the Previously Adopted 2023-2024 budget (Budget). The Firefighters are encouraged and support the proposed budget amendments and believe the continued success of the City's revenue stream will allow the City to pay its firefighter market rate, while maintaining and enhancing the services we provide. Firefighter pay is currently 10% behind the average of the mean and median of our survey agencies and continues to fall farther behind every month. After reviewing the proposed Budget, there are a few items that we would like to highlight, and they are as follows:
General Fund appropriations to the Fire Department in 2008-2009 were $8.6 million and in the Budget they are listed at $11.6 million. This is a $3 million dollar or 34% increase in the general fund appropriations to the Fire Department Budget in 15 years. Over the same time period, the Police Department received an increase of $16.3 million or 79.5% of general fund appropriations, from $20.5 million to $36.8 million. Notably the proposed Budget reduces the Fire Department General Fund appropriations by $563k, the second year in a row the Fire Department had a reduction in general fund appropriations ($110k in 2022-2023).
The final payment of the Fire Pension Side Fund loan was paid off in 2022-2023, freeing up $653k annually.
In 2022-2023 projected revenues exceeded expectations and proposed expenditures were overestimated. While this accounting is prudent, it has led to massive surpluses annually, and specifically a $7 million surplus in 2022-2023 which will be divided equally between Capital Projects, Leaf Fund, and Pension Reserves. As noted in the Budget, the Leaf Fund is at an all time high of $18.9 Million.
Measure U Appropriations to the Fire Department continue to increase from $7.1 million in 2020-2021 to $15.3 million in 2023-2024. While the volatility of Measure U is always a concern, it has shown to be a very stable funding source and was estimated to bring in $18 million annually, as stated in Resolution 2018-145.
Additionally, the Santa Maria City Firefighters would like to ask the City to allocate 250k in this Budget to help with financing the construction of the Alvin Newton Memorial, specifically the Larger-than-Life Bronze Statue of fallen firefighter Alvin Newton on the southeast corner of Main and Broadway. This construction project is part of the development agreement between the City of Santa Maria and the Vernon Group. The Santa Maria City Firefighters have retained Mark Greenaway, artist, sculptor, and designer of several local art projects including the Face of Freedom Veterans Memorial in Atascadero, CA. More information can be found at the following address: http://facesoffreedommemorial.org/.
2 Thank you for your consideration.
Matthew Chircop
President
Santa Maria Firefighters Local 2020